Why We STILL Need To Defund the Police
The Continually Enforced Drug War is Proof that Department Budgets Must Be Cut and Reallocated
Many good, well-meaning Americans remain committed to the notion that Police keep their communities safe, and that it is necessary to fund their Departments to the tune that we do here in the United States to enjoy said protection. Conditioned by the media to always be paranoid of terrorism, gun violence, and extremism of all varieties, Americans now fear their neighbors to the point that they have accepted a hyper-militarized police state — an occupying force in their own communities funded by their own tax dollars.
Even the most ardent abolitionist will tell you that, of course, violent criminals such as rapists should be held accountable for their offenses. If these criminals feel that they can get away with these crimes, then it will only incentivize them to offend more. But it’s necessary to understand the role that cops actually play in our society, and it’s unfortunately not to catch rapists, or even to prevent real crime in general.
Rarely do police actually prevent violent crime, and especially in the case of rape and sex crimes in general, police departments constantly drop the ball. It is estimated that there are currently around 200,000 untested rape kits in America. Only 1 in 5 sexual assault reports lead to arrest and only 1 in 100 leads to felony convection. And usually, when these crimes actually are solved, it is by highly trained detectives and units devoted to sexual assault cases, not the average, poorly trained police officers who make up the majority of the force.
So if the cops aren’t devoting their time and resources to solving serious crimes, what are they doing? Well, a large portion of a police officer’s job consists of enforcing the unjust and racist criminalization of drugs. Around 26% of all arrests in America are for drug crimes, including cannabis, according to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics
The punishments for these “crimes” can easily land you in prison even for completely non-violent offenses, but even if you avoid incarceration, probation entails you pay massive fees to the state, costly drug tests which they subject you to weekly, as well as setbacks in future employment prospects. And that’s not even to mention the thousands and thousands of dollars in legal fees if you choose to be represented. For a middle class or upper class person, this is survivable. For a poor person, already economically strained and living paycheck to paycheck, this punishment is economically devastating. Since the war on drugs has disproportionately affected poor and working class drug users, it has further devastated communities already stricken with poverty and incarcerated millions of people, all while the white-collar drug users (let alone financial criminals) of high society remain untouched.
The results of the drug war have also disproportionately punished black and brown communities. According to the Drug Policy Alliance, Nearly 80% of people in federal prison and almost 60% of people in state prison for drug offenses are Black or Latino. “Blacks are 3.73 times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana”, according to the ACLU.
The role of Police in our society is largely to carry out these unjust laws, along with dolling out other, equally punitive charges for other non-violent crimes. Yes, sometimes a police officer will be of help or do genuinely useful things, but we have to look at the larger picture, and realize that the majority of an average cop’s job is to enforce unjust laws, and to drive poor people even further into poverty. “If the penalty for a crime is a fine, then that law doesn’t exist for the rich.” And the punishment for the majority of non-violent crimes in America is a fine. Therefore, a cop’s job is to make the poor even poorer. To drive the desperate even further into desperation.
Due to the reality that a large portion, if not an outright majority, of police work boils down to enforcing the laws of the drugs war along with other unjust and violent terrorism under the guise of law enforcement, it’s not a stretch to say that their budget should be adjusted accordingly.
Drug addicts need help, and that the criminalization of their addiction only brings more trauma and desperation to their lives, ironically increasing the conditions for drug dependence and driving them further into substance abuse as well as their often deteriorating financial situations. Instead of treating drug addicts as criminals, they should be treated as victims of a disease that requires a medical response, not a punitive or carceral one. The drugs in question should be legalized and regulated, and as a result, all drug law enforcement would cease. The resources traditionally allotted to those operations will then instead be reallocated to addiction specialists, mental health professionals, and facilities that can actually help addicts rather than further harm them.
And that’s not to even mention the legions of Americans who aren’t addicted at all, but simply enjoy using drugs recreationally, no differently from those who legally partake in alcohol or nicotine. These users don’t need an intervention at all, but are routinely subjected to harassment from police as well as costly probations and invasive drug testing, all for getting caught getting high in the wrong state. And then there are the millions of patients who use cannabis for its effects helping with a myriad of conditions including cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer's, epilepsy and seizures, just to name a few.
The fact that our tax-payer dollars goes towards funding the criminalization of these aforementioned addicts, recreational users and medical patients should sicken every American. Even if you believe that Police are necessary for other reasons, you must admit that their enforcement of this immoral drug war has to end now, and that their budgets must be cut and reallocated accordingly.
Great article. As a former mental health professional, I became aware that many police interventions with our patients could have been handled more easily and more safely by traiined mental health professionals.
Just shows me how stupid you are!
No common sense.
So..... when the lunatics come and get you, WHO YOU GONNA CALL?